Frozen
by Valefor
Summary: I had to do it - Black Waltz No. 1 is probably my favorite original Waltz right behind No. 3, so he gets a little fic from me. ^_^ This is done in almost the same style as "Release", though not nearly as dark in my opinion...


I'm pretty sure some of you were just waiting for me to write another thing about a Black Waltz, so here it is. I've always felt rather sympathetic towards Black Waltz No. 1; to me, he doesn't just seem the type to be actively cruel or crazy like he was in FFIX but rather clueless or childish in a sense. Why else would he want to carry a cute little bell around? So, here's another first person POV starting a little bit before the events in the Ice Cavern. Again, I've taken some liberties... maybe lots of liberties... but oh, well. Most of this was written in school so dun mind if I get some stuff wrong. o.O;

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Yep. Sure is hard doing what I do. Constantly, that queen lady shouts orders at me and shouts some more when I finish those orders. I know she couldn't care less about me; as long as I do what she wants, she's happy, even if I'm not. I don't like her, not one bit.

Mr. Kuja on the other hand... Now _he's_ a great boss. He doesn't like the queen lady either and he talks to me a whole lot. He even calls me "Number 1". Isn't that nice? I guess he thinks I'm something special to call me "Number 1" all the time. "Number 1, did you know... Number one, how about we..." Yadda yadda, talk talk talk. He even gave me a shiny golden bell.

Yep. I like Mr. Kuja a lot. He doesn't make me work nearly as hard as the queen lady. He gave me a room in this castle. There's not much in there but I think that if I'm good, he'll get me some more stuff. That's how I got my bell, anyways.

A bell gets kinda boring, though. It's been quiet lately for me. Everyone else has been getting worked up over a canary or something. Isn't that a little bird? What's the big deal? Get another one. I told that to one of the lady guards that stood outside my room. "Why don't you just get another canary?" I said. She didn't look like she understood so I said, "Isn't someone missing a canary? Just get another one."

I don't like the guard ladies, either. She called me stupid. How rude! Me! I'm Number 1, she can't call me stupid because I'm not! I'm Number 1. I got mad and gave her a good zap of Thunder. Stupid guard lady. She said something like "snoffitch" and ran away.

Yeah, right back at you, lady! Stupid snoffitch!

After she left, I went back into my room. ... I wish I had more stuff. The walls are all white and there's a window looking out over the city. Mr. Kuja gave me a nice warm bed and a whole bunch of pretty squishy soft pillows. And a bell; my bell usually sits on a pillow on my bed. Whenever I'm really bored and no one will talk to me, I'll sit and look outside my window and ring my bell. It makes such a pretty little noise...

Too bad those guard ladies below my window don't like it. They'll yell at me and I'll stop and have nothing to do. Stupid guard ladies... I really don't like them.

Later during the day I zapped that one lady, Mr. Kuja stopped by my room to talk. He said that the lady I zapped told on me. The nerve! I shoulda gone and zapped her again for that! But he told me not to do that anymore because the queen lady will hear about it and kick me out of the castle or something. I told him I wouldn't zap the guard ladies anymore and he said, "That's a good Number 1," and left.

Mr. Kuja is so nice to me.

* * *

One day, Mr. Kuja came to my room and told me to follow him. We walked down a bunch of stairs and into a dark room with three tables. There was something lying on one of the tables. When I asked him what it was, he said it was my brother. He said that now I won't have to do a whole lot of work because my brother could do some stuff and I could do some other stuff.

"And you won't have to be around the elephant lady as much."

Oh, what a relief... I really don't like her. I hope my brother can get along...

Mr. Kuja said that I could go back to my room and that I could talk with my brother when he wakes up. So, I went back to my room and waited.

* * *

You know, if you really listen closely when you tinkle a bell, you can hear it talking. Mr. Kuja hadn't come by yet so I didn't have anything better to do than play with my bell.

_ Ring, ring, ring; hello, how are you?_

_ Ring, ring, ring; boy, I'm bored._

"Yeah, me too, Mr. Bell."

_ Ring, ring, ring; I wonder when Mr. Kuja's gonna get here?_

"I don't know."

_Ring, ring, ring; I--_

"SHUT UP!!!"

... stupid guard lady. Oh, well... Mr. Bell and I weren't having much of a conversation. I put him back onto his pillow and waited some more. 

* * *

There was a noise outside my door and Mr. Kuja stepped in with some sort of floating thing.

"Number 1, I'd like you to meet Number 2. I apologize for the delay; it took him a while to adjust to using his wings..."

... doesn't he have legs?

... wait a minute... _He_? Isn't that a dress...?

Mr. Kuja said something else and left. Number 2 just stared at me.

"... hello!" I said.

"Hello." 

"I'm Number 1."

"Yes, I know." 

"You're Number 2?"

"Yes."

... boring guy. This is my brother? I thought he'd be a bit more fun...

"... that's a nice dress you have there." 

"... dress?"

"Yeah."

"... what is that?"

... stupid floating thing.

* * *

Mr. Kuja hasn't been talking to me nearly as much as he used to. He's always with Number 2. The queen lady hasn't given me any orders lately, either...

Oh, well. There's supposed to be a play going on sometime soon. Maybe then I'll have something to do other than look out my window or stare at the walls or talk to Mr. Bell. Zapping someone sounds like a great idea but I don't want to get in trouble.

I wish they'd add some more color to my room. White's so... boring. It hurts to look at while for a long time. I've been good, and Mr. Kuja hasn't brought me anything...

... Unless Number 2 is supposed to be some kind of present. If that's the case, I don't want him. He's been getting mean lately. He'll say bad things to me.

I asked him how he was doing one day and he told me to go to hell. What was he talking about? I asked him how he was doing, not where I should go. Idiot.

Oh, well. I'm still Number 1, and I still have Mr. Bell and my white walls and my bed and the pillows and the window.

... I just need to wait a while.

* * *

Finally! The queen lady called me to her room and told me to find Princess Garnet. Mr. Kuja said that she would be heading towards this place called Dali so I should wait in a place called Ice Cavern. I told Number 2 that I finally had a mission and he didn't and he said, "Good for you, now hurry and leave."

Before I left the castle, Mr. Kuja told me to take my bell with me. There's a monster called a Snowlion that lives in the Ice Cavern that would help me catch the princess.

I hope I don't have to give Mr. Bell away... I'm sure Mr. Bell wouldn't like being with a big monster.

Mr. Kuja told me to set off early so I took Mr. Bell and left. 

* * *

Geeze, this place is _cold_! It's windy and icy and cold like you wouldn't believe! Why would the princess want to come here? She'd freeze!

... why did Mr. Kuja send me here? ... oh, well. He gave me an important job. That's all that matters.

Around the end of the cave there was a big waterfall. It was so much warmer there so I picked a place by the top of the falls to sit and wait.

... and wait, and wait, and wait. I wonder where that Snowlion is?

_Ring, ring, ring; heeeeeeeeeere Snowlion, Snowlion, Snowlion!_

... nothing.

_Ring, ring, ring; come here, boy!_

...

_Ring, ring, ring; please?_

There's a grumbling sound coming from below me... and there's a big white thing looking up at me. Is that the Snowlion?

_Ring, ring, ring; yeah, are you a Snowlion?_

"Rrrrrrrrrr..."

... yeah? Well... I'm pretty sure that it's a Snowlion. It's big and lives where snow is so... What am I supposed to do with it? The princess isn't here and I don't know when she'll show up if she shows up at all. Mr. Kuja wouldn't be wrong, would he? The princess _is_ coming here and I'm going to take her back to Alexandria... right?

... maybe it would be better if the queen lady sent Number 2 instead of me. Then I could sit in my room and look out the window.

... it's so cold here...

Hm... Wouldn't it be easier to catch the princess if she's frozen? That's a good idea! The wind in the cave is cold so... make more wind! The Snowlion has wing looking things!

But what if she sees me? I bet she has some friends with her... It wouldn't do me any good if her friends won't freeze, too. They might want to fight.

_(That's why...)_

The Snowlion could hide somewhere... It'll be hard to see if it's against some snow.

_Ring, ring ring!_

"Go over there, ok?"

"Rrrrrrrrrrr."

... hey, it worked! This thing is pretty smart.

_Ring, ring, ring!_

"Make a little blizzard going out there!"

"Rrrrrr!"

Yeah, that'll do. Just gotta wait now! Mr. Kuja will be so proud of me... This'll show Number 2 to be nice to me!

... what's that noise?

.... who's that down there? It's not the princess...

_(... you exist only to kill.)_

That's... that's that guy that kidnapped her, isn't it? If he's here... then the princess must be here, too! But... why isn't she with him? I can't complete the mission without the princess...

_(You exist only to kill.)_

... The Snowlion isn't making him freeze... He should be frozen... Why isn't he frozen? I should fix that... yeah...

I need to kill him...

_(Yes. Kill. You exist only to kill.)_

_ Ring, ring, ring!_

* * *

"W-what happened?" asked Vivi as he stood up from the soft snow. He had no idea how he had fallen down or how long he was unconscious, but he guessed it was long enough for Zidane to get flustered over something judging to the pink sheen to the boy's face.

"It was nothing," Zidane said quickly. "You guys just fainted from the cold, I guess."

"And you didn't?" growled Steiner. "If you did _anything_ to the princess, I'll--"

"I didn't do anything so let's just get outta here!"

The crew filed onwards into a tall portion of the cavern. A waterfall dominated the center of the spacious chamber, pooling into a gently steaming hot spring. Snow was piled into little hills around a marked path. However, the area around the spring looked as if a group of weyrds had been rolling around. The snow was scratched and scarred and tossed about to make a clearing where bits of frozen dead grass peeked out form beneath the white.

Vivi was straggling behind the others who were already making their way upwards on the sloped path. His eyes looked over the serenity and beauty of the waterfall and paused when he spotted something in the snow beside it. Standing out from the brownish white snow in the clearing by the spring was a small shiny spherical object. Vivi walked towards it, carefully pulled it from the freezing snow, and rolled it onto his palm.

Sitting there with a wide slit smiling up at him was a golden bell with a string of crimson satin attached tarnished with bluish-purple blood.  



End file.
